


Period of Adjustment

by toesohnoes



Category: Captain America (2011)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-21
Updated: 2011-11-21
Packaged: 2017-10-26 09:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/281682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being unfrozen, Steve has to take a breather to clear his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Period of Adjustment

**Author's Note:**

> Written at my [Tumblr](http://toestastegood-fic.tumblr.com/post/13074360514/steve-stands-on-the-edge-of-the-pavement-and-does).

Steve stands on the edge of the pavement and does nothing more than breathe, feeling the rush of air over his face. The traffic is a blur before him, a blinding rush like nothing he had seen before he came here. Yesterday (decades ago), cars hadn’t been anything like this. Not so fast, not so common, not nearly so taken for granted.

The whole world has changed. He opened his eyes into a whole new world.

He wants to go back.

With his bare feet on the wet pavement, he can feel himself shivering. Even a supersoldier gets cold - he’s been on ice for years. Maybe he can allow himself a shiver or two.

He knows he ought to go back. There’s nowhere for him to run and no one for him to go to - what other options does he have?

But his feet don’t move, and his eyes just track the cars that slide past along the road.

Eventually, he hears the slow shuffle of determined footsteps, and Nick Fury emerges into his peripheral vision. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Fury says.

He’s got a talent for the understatement.

Steve swallows and nods. “It’s different,” he says. “Everything is different.”

The world has been torn apart and put back together a dozen times since he crashed his plane. It moved on without him so neatly that he doesn’t think there’s a place left for him, not any more. Maybe there shouldn’t have to be.

“We could do with a man like you, Captain,” Fury says. “There’s a whole lot of trouble coming our way.”

Steve knows that he’s going to be there in the front line of fire no matter where he is, no matter when he is. But - “I just need a minute. Please.”

Fury backs away and Steve is left on the corner, breathing, watching, and trying to remember what it means to live.


End file.
